Man sentenced for filming child in the bath

A BENDIGO man who filmed a five-year-old girl in the bathtub and stalked her mother has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for eight years.

The 36-year-old was sentenced in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to manufacturing indecent images of a child under the age of 18, stalking and other offences.

He was convicted and placed on a three-year community corrections order.

At an earlier hearing in Bendigo, the court heard the man covertly filmed the child in the bathtub for 20 minutes after he had been left to look after her.

Police found the video and multiple still images during a raid on his Bendigo home.

The man then began to stalk the mother of the victim, attempting to contact her 228 times via mobile phone in one day.

Their relationship ended before the police raid.

The court heard the man felt “obligated” to make the recording out of fear of his then housemate, who has since taken his own life. His housemate was the target of the police raid for possessing child exploitation images.